Processing of expressions by individuals with autistic traits: Empathy deficit or sensory hyper-reactivity?

Meng, Chunyan; Huo, Chao; Ge, Hongxin; Li, Zuoshan; Hu, Yuanyan; Meng, Jing

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0254207

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 72 publications

(101 reference statements)

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“…Initial empirical evidence yielded that autistic persons "experience overly strong perception, attention, and cognitive evaluation to repetitive expressions, particularly negative emotional expressions. This result supports the intense world theory more strongly than the mindblindness hypothesis" [122].…”

Section: Weak Central Coherence With An Intense World: Do Unusual Exp...supporting

confidence: 79%

Autism and Religion

Kéri

2023

Children

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The disease burden of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a definitive public health challenge. The quality of life of children with ASD depends on how the cultural environment fits their special needs, including religious and spiritual factors. Does ASD predict low religiosity, and if not, what is the significance for clinical care? To answer this question, we reviewed the literature on the cognitive models of ASD and religious beliefs. We found that the cognitive models of ASD and religious beliefs substantially overlap, which is particularly important from a developmental psychological perspective. These models include Theory of Mind and intentionality, the “broken mirror” hypothesis, central coherence, and the intense world theory. We dispute the assumption that individuals with ASD are inherently less religious and spiritual than the neurotypical population. Religiosity is possibly expressed differently in ASD with unique spiritual experiences and beliefs (“gifted, visionary, and truth-seeker”). In some circumstances, a religious background can be helpful for both children with ASD and their caregivers. These circumstances should not be neglected, and clinicians are encouraged to consider patients’ religious context, resources, and needs.

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Section: Weak Central Coherence With An Intense World: Do Unusual Exp...supporting

confidence: 79%

Autism and Religion

Kéri

2023

Children

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“…The AQ score is calculated as the sum of the scores for each dimension; higher scores denote higher levels of ATs. The scale has high reliability and validity in existing studies ( Meng et al, 2021 ). In the present study, the Cronbach’s α coefficient of the total scale was 0.785.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Maternal autistic traits and anxiety in children with typical development in Chinese families: a moderated mediation model of mothers’ negative emotional expressions and child gender

Gu,

Li,

Dong

2024

Front. Psychol.

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BackgroundPrior studies have focused on the effects of maternal autistic traits on children with autism, but little attention has been paid to the effects of maternal autistic traits on typically developing children, while the mechanisms of the effects are not clear.ObjectiveGiven that, a moderated mediation model was conducted to examine the association between maternal autistic traits and typically developing children’s anxiety and the underlying mechanisms.Methods and resultsParticipants were 648 mother–child dyads in which these children had no autistic siblings. Mothers reported their autistic traits and negative emotional expressions in the family and children’s anxiety. The results indicated that children’s anxiety was predicted by maternal autistic traits. Mediating analysis revealed that mothers’ negative emotional expressions partially mediated the association between their autistic traits and children’s anxiety. The findings also indicated that child gender moderated the relationship between maternal emotional expressions and children’s anxiety. Specifically, anxiety in girls was more strongly predicted by negative emotional expressions from their mothers than in boys.ConclusionThese results have important theoretical and practical implications for reducing the adverse effect of maternal autistic traits on children’s anxiety, especially for girls. The present study also reveals that maternal negative emotional expression is an important mechanism. Causal conclusions cannot be drawn based on cross-sectional research design, so it is necessary to conduct longitudinal studies in the future.

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“…Here, we found that increased sensory over-responsivity was related to poorer perspective taking (cognitive empathy) skills in the ASD group and poorer empathic concern (emotional empathy) for the DCD group. Difficulty in cognitive empathy, in particular perspective taking, is a common feature of ASD [ 145 ], and relationships with sensory sensitivities have been previously reported [ 146 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensory Modulation in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder Compared to Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Children

et al. 2022

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Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is one of the least studied and understood developmental disorders. One area that has been minimally investigated in DCD is potential issues with sensory modulation. Further, in other neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., autism spectrum disorder (ASD)) sensory modulation is related to many other challenges (e.g., social issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety); however, such potential relationships in children with DCD have been largely unexplored. The purpose of this study is to explore sensory modulation differences in DCD and to understand the relationships between sensory modulation and social emotional measures, behavior, and motor skills in DCD in comparison to ASD and typically developing (TD) peers. Participants (aged 8–17) and their caregivers (DCD, N = 26; ASD, N = 57; and TD, N = 53) completed behavioral and clinical measures. The results indicated that 31% of the DCD group showed sensory modulation difficulties, with the DCD group falling between the ASD and TD groups. In the DCD group, sensory modulation was significantly associated with anxiety, empathic concern, repetitive behaviors, and motor skills. Data are compared to patterns seen in ASD and TD groups and implications for interventions are discussed.

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Processing of expressions by individuals with autistic traits: Empathy deficit or sensory hyper-reactivity?

Cited by 8 publications

References 72 publications

Autism and Religion

Autism and Religion

Maternal autistic traits and anxiety in children with typical development in Chinese families: a moderated mediation model of mothers’ negative emotional expressions and child gender

Sensory Modulation in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder Compared to Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Children

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